BITE-SIZE STORIES FROM A LARGER THAN LIFE EXPERIENCE

How it all began…

Now that Greg has provided the “why” and “why now” of our big adventure, I’ll give a little narrative action as to just how such a trip came to fruition. It was a typical Saturday night in May, Eric was down in his basement cave blasting pop music or watching the youtube video of that Asian singer he’s obsessed with, I was still single and alone, and Greg was in Orlando no doubt frolicking with Mickey, Minnie, and a slew of Disney prince and princesses. Actually Greg hadn’t entered the travel picture just yet, but he would soon enough, so for storytelling sake we’ll assume he was off making Disney magic.

Over the course of our time as roommates and many late night kitchen conversations, Eric and I had discussed our desire to travel many times, he going so far as to begin scoping travel internships and me planning a 3 week 5000 mile road trip down the west coast for Fall. Anyway, yes, cut to a few hours and perhaps more than a few drinks at a local bar later on this Saturday night, and the subject of travel arose again. I’m sure we blabbed a lot, got excited, and maybe argued over which places were the most crucial to visit right away, but again, this was taking place SEVERAL DRINKS IN, so I can’t attest to all facts. I do know though, that we found out we would both be in NYC around the same time in Oct and that we were quick enough to realize that would be fairly easy to just…hop across the pond. Okaaay, okay, we’re onto something! I would just trade my roadtrip for Europe and Eric would move up his spring travel plans.

The next day we sprang into action. Think Tigger… with a slight hangover. We assembled books and scoured the internet for info to see if this could actually happen. Knowing that our schedules were free, the main concern was monetary. How much does 8 weeks in Europe cost, and can we afford that, whatever it is, by October?? A good bit of research and many thanks to “Lonely Planet”, “STA”, “Rough Guides”, friends, family, and our youth (no seriously) later, the answer was YES! Well, it’s still a work in progress, but hopefully yes.

With stars in our eyes we set to planning, and before we knew it, our “8 weeks 8 cities” motto had ballooned to “8 weeks 18 cities”. Yikes. I mean, have you seen pictures of all those places though! We wanted to see it ALL. Fortunately, we have people in our lives to look us in the eye and say, “You crazy!”. But what should we cut?! Surely not Greece…or Ireland…or Turkey…all places that ultimately ended up on the chopping block. At this point though, before the trimming has begun, enter Greg. He had known of and wanted to go on the trip all along, but he’s a big boy with a big boy job, so 2 months off galavanting in foreign countries is a bit of a tough sell to most bosses. Miraculously, his current job would be ending days before our scheduled departure, and his new job was willing to wait for his return. The travel gods had spoken. Insert ethereal sound effect. So, 2 became 3, and with Greg’s help, 18 became 10. And… there you have it. The how. So if you out there have a desire to travel, my tip is just go out for drinks and talk about it. Eventually you’ll be intoxicated enough to believe it’s a possibility and…isn’t believing in something half the battle? 🙂